SIR THOMAS STAMFORD RAFFLES. 77 



son of the quantity of soil necessarily washed down 

 in the process of irrigating the land for the rice cul- 

 tivation. Most of them require the application of 

 jetties, or piers, to deepen the passage at their en- 

 trance. In some parts extensive swamps are found ; 

 and among the hills, several very beautiful lakes of 

 small dimensions are discovered, some of them 

 evidently formed of the craters of extinct volcanoes. 

 In summing up what may be called his geographi- 

 cal and physical description of the island, the author 

 thus proceeds. " The general aspect of Java, on the 

 northern coast, is low; in many places swampy, 

 and overgrown with mangrove trees and bushes, 

 particularly towards the west. The southern coast, 

 on the contrary, consists almost entirely of a series 

 of rocks and cliffs, which rise perpendicularly to a 

 considerable height. In the interior, stupendous 

 mountains stretch longitudinally throughout the 

 island ; while others of an inferior elevation, and in- 

 numerable ranges of hills, running in various direc- 

 tions, serve to form and confine plains and valleys 

 of various elevations and extent. On the northern 

 side, the ascent is in general very gradual from the 

 sea- coast to the immediate base of the mountains ; 

 particularly in the western parts of the island, where 

 it has the greatest breadth, and where the moun- 

 tains are situated far inland. In approaching the 

 mountains which lie at the back of Batavia, there 

 is a gradual but almost imperceptible declivity for 

 about forty miles ; in other parts, where the hills 



